A Breed Apart
by Mireille Bouquet Fan
Summary: Having established his empire on Earth, and with his influence stretching to other worlds, Ra turns his attention to an experiment involving humans and a creature he previously observed on another world. Sequel to The Search. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

_Stargate_ is owned by Studio Canal. The movie novelisation by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich is published by Signet.

 _Stargate SG-1_ is owned by MGM, based on _Stargate_ by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich.

* * *

A Breed Apart

A _Stargate_ story

* * *

He was merely after new life when he had taken the young boy, Ra, as a host, but he had been changed by the experience. The boy's mind, his knowledge, experience, memories, and emotions, had opened up his own mind to new possibilities.

The boy was different to the others. He knew that buried deep beneath the boy's indifference to the rest of his tribe was a desire to belong to… something. Something more than just his tribe. There was a desire for approval by… someone.

He knew how he could get it.

Ra had remade his public image into something familiar and alien at the same time. Awe-inspiring. The mask he fashioned for himself was human, yet unnerving.

From among the populations of humans, he selected a few individuals, and instructed them. He gave them visages to wear, and they became his servants. They took on the faces of the animal spirit-gods he knew the people worshipped and feared. Soon, they would have names of their own. They, too, would become gods, if lesser gods in his service. Since his technology allowed him to incorporate his own mask into his host body's head, creating a truly unnatural transformation, his servants would know and remember their place – that for all their god-given power, he was above them.

Finally, one night, he was ready. He presented himself to a collection of primitive humans, gathered on the banks of a river, bathed in white light brighter than the midday sun. The people were promptly overcome with fear and awe.

Seeing the humans lying prostrate before him and his retinue of animal gods brought him a deep sense of satisfaction. He was being recognised, rightfully, for his greatness.

This was something he would have never even considered were it not for his taking of the boy as a host.

* * *

Years passed. A pyramid was built to act as a stable landing platform for his ship. He sent humans through the Stargate installed within to other worlds; the quartz material that was crucial to his technology could not be found on this planet, and colonies were set up to mine it. Pyramids were also built on these planets; the pyramids, as well as allowing his ship to land, served as visible reminders of his presence, his majesty and power.

Several dozen of the people, selected for their prowess with working wood, stone, and metal, had been given the honour of remodelling part of the interior of his ship, creating a luxurious palace with a vast throne room where Ra received his subjects. It was a privilege to work in the house of Ra.

Everything was going better than he could have possibly hoped.

The king became idle, almost bored. Then he remembered a discovery he had made, while searching for a host body. He remembered the world with primitive, ungainly bipeds, the lakes filled with alien eels that attached themselves to the bipeds and changed their behaviour.

He took his ship to the world; even though it had a Stargate, he wanted to be close by to observe the results, and he had no desire to personally set foot on the world. His animal-headed guards had taken three humans, selected at random from the crowds of his worshippers, and, standing by the shores of a lake, ordered them into the water. Ra remained in his ship, hovering above, to watch.

The people swam, as instructed, but it looked as if fear set in when the eels brushed up against their bodies.

It did not take long.

They were taken by the eels, which promptly burrowed into them as they did with the leathery-skinned bipeds. One drowned, having been injured when an eel attempted to burrow into a limb, then his flank, and he could no longer swim.

The other two thrashed about, coughing, sputtering and screaming, as the eels bit at their bodies, finally latching on their necks before burrowing inside. They swam-paddled back to the shore, their legs collapsing as their feet found solid purchase on the mud. Both of them fell to their hands and knees in the waist-deep water before slowly crawling to the shore.

When they finally emerged from the water, their behaviour was, indeed, different. Erecting themselves to stand upright, they moved differently, now seemingly more curious about their surroundings than before.

Ra ordered his Horus guards to bring the humans back to him. They were more resistant, attempting to fight off his guards where before they were passive and obedient.

They still recognised him upon being returned to the ship, still wet from their forced swim in the lake, but once again their behaviour was changed; they looked around their surroundings with a new curiosity, as if seeing them for the first time, even though they had seen the ship and its colossal throne room before. Further, they seemed to be almost tinged with defiance where there had previously only been submissiveness; one of them had even lunged at Ra, screaming, arms raised, only to be beaten back by a watchful Horus guard. At his right side, his chief guard Anubis had snapped to attention, arming his staff weapon, but Ra stopped him, pushing the weapon away with a gesture of his hand.

Lying on his side, with two Horus guards standing over him with armed staff weapons, the fallen man looked up at him, still defiant. His eyes glowed, much like Ra's own. Beside him, the other subject, a woman, remained kneeling, but also looked defiantly up at him.

Despite the shock, Ra was curious, almost amused, as his guards dragged the two implanted humans away.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

The experiments continued. Ra took more subjects to the planet to be implanted. By now, he and his guards had managed to capture several of the eel-creatures as specimens and kept them in the bowels of his ship.

Keeping the newly implanted humans for observation, he noted that in addition to their eyes glowing, the pitch of their voices changed. Not only that, they were also somewhat stronger and more resilient than a typical human. Their glowing eyes, he surmised, were based on the eel secreting some sort of short-lived bioluminescent chemical into the host's circulation, while the vocal changes seemed to be the result of changes to the way the eel controlled the vocal cords. Likewise, their strength and healing abilities were also the result of chemicals secreted by the eels.

Despite their continued devotion to him and recognition of him as their god, he noted that they soon began to want more for themselves. Arrogant, avaricious, and aggressive as they were, they were also capable of cunning, more so than most normal humans.

They could be dangerous… and yet useful at the same time.

* * *

Finally, he decided to harness this intelligence. They would be his new enforcers, answerable to him.

All of the implanted humans assembled in the great throne room, flanked by numerous Horus and Sebek guards as they knelt before the raised throne. Ra sat at his throne, looking down on the assembly.

In making this declaration, Ra made it painfully clear to these people that they owed their new existences to him; without his divine intervention, they would still be unintelligent animals, swimming in lakes. They understood this; it had been drilled into them since the beginning, when they were taken before Ra after implantation. Setting a bloody example, Anubis promptly killed one of them, then cut the eel-creature from his neck and threw it on the floor. It writhed on the floor, squealing, until Anubis crushed it under his heel. The assembly of implanted people recoiled in a mixture of revulsion and dread, just as Ra had hoped.

Some of them took on the names of the gods for themselves, but it was understood that they were extensions of the guards Ra had by his side. So it was that the implanted humans known as Anubis, Sebek, and Heru-ur arose.

Attending to Ra at first, they watched as he ruled over his dominion, but before long, as a sort of test of their abilities, Ra sent some of them to govern other human settlements on Earth, largely untouched by his presence and far from where he had established his Earthly empire. They were quick to subjugate the local populations, some of them appropriating the local mythology, others creating names for themselves to be known to the local populations by. Nearly all of them declared themselves gods, as Ra himself had done. Unlike himself, however, they had no qualms showing their human faces to their people, using their glowing eyes to intimidate.

He created a new name for them as a collective: the Goa'uld, the children of the gods. As members of Ra's 'family,' it was understood that they, too were divine. Being a god, he was among them, but in name only; he was a breed apart, separate, special.

* * *

As his empire grew, Ra entrusted the Goa'uld with enforcing whole colonies on other planets. Being his minions, they too needed power and technology to enforce his will, and so, with increasing stocks of the quartz his colonies were mining, he gave them weapons like those he armed his own guards with.

Some of the Goa'uld were curious, disassembling weapons in an effort to determine how they worked. Indulging this curiosity, Ra watched as they used the limited technology he provided to fashion new devices for themselves.

As it happened, the Goa'uld's arrogance and vanity extended to their weapons: they even fashioned a weapon seemingly in their own image, the _zat'nik'tel._ Ra was impressed with the Goa'uld ingenuity shown in fashioning a new weapon based on his technology, but he was disinterested in it.

Eventually, he even gave them the means to build ships, and build them they did: the winged scarab, the _udajeet,_ or glider, was produced in large quantities. Using his own pyramid ship as a base, they built variations on the design, with one, the _hatak,_ becoming a standard. New designs were eventually developed and fielded: the _teltak,_ a small cargo ship, and the _alkesh,_ a cruiser, were among them.

Ra would soon find that the Goa'uld were soon establishing colonies and dominions of their own without his approval. Ra cared little for it; none were in a position to challenge him directly. He would let them carry on – for now.

* * *

Some of them even returned to their home world. Apparently, some of them left their human hosts and took on the ungainly, leathery bipeds as hosts, seemingly preferring their size, strength, resilience, and intimidating looks. They certainly left an impression on the human slaves when they returned to the colonies they policed.

They even gave the creatures a name: Unas.

Again, Ra cared little for it.

* * *

In time, the Goa'uld themselves experimented on humans, as Ra had experimented on them. Seeking to increase their number, they created a warrior race for themselves called the Jaffa. These otherwise normal humans were modified to possess pouches for infant eel-creatures to grow in. It was, Ra thought, quite ingenious; these new warriors were literally dependent on the Goa'uld to live, while providing a relatively safe place for them to grow. However, Ra also thought it stupid that the Goa'uld would indirectly send their own young into battle inside these warriors when they were trying to increase their number.

Despite their superiority to normal humans, Ra himself had no desire to add Jaffa soldiers to his ranks; he wanted his humans pure, unsullied by Goa'uld tampering. If the other Goa'uld wanted to play with their subjects in this manner, so be it: he wanted none of it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

Many years had passed. The Goa'uld empire slowly grew among the stars. The most powerful of the Goa'uld were a higher class, dubbing themselves the 'system lords'; Ra maintained dominance as the supreme system lord. He was still the master, with the most worlds, the most technology, and the largest army.

Their egotistical, arrogant natures presenting themselves, the system lords were quick to wage war upon each other, squabbling and warring for territory. For the most part, Ra separated himself from their squabbles, but would intervene as he saw fit. In a way, he was like a father separating children who were fighting, old as his 'children' were.

* * *

One such struggle saw Sokar make a play for rule of the system lords, amassing his Jaffa troops on his colony-world and attempting to challenge Ra himself by bearing down on him unannounced in a _hatak_ on one of Ra's visits to another world. Ra escaped through the Stargate before Sokar landed and swarmed the colony with his Jaffa.

Ra could not let this mutinous behaviour go unpunished. The Goa'uld only understood force, and force was what Sokar would see. He and the other, loyal Goa'uld were quick to respond, themselves coming down on Sokar's army and crushing his forces. Sokar was sent into retreat, slinking off into an uncharted region of the galaxy.

* * *

In another instance, Anubis became more bloodthirsty and violent following a defeat at the hands of a rival, jockeying for a greater position among the Goa'uld by rampaging and killing beyond his remit, and seemingly taking pleasure in watching his small army wipe away whole colonies of humans. This was unacceptable; sadistic as they were, the Goa'uld had no desire to rule over a pile of corpses. He was eventually branded an outcast, and presumed dead after a long battle.

In spite of this rebellious bloodlust, Ra's champion, the chief of his retinue of guards, continued to wear the visage of Anubis; the jackal-headed god had long since become significant to the people of Earth as a god of the underworld, and now, if anything, the actions of the rogue Goa'uld gave the Anubis visage new, sinister significance among people who had heard of the Goa'uld's rampages.

* * *

In yet another instance, Set went to war with Osiris and his wife Isis for his territory. After some brief skirmishes, Set managed to overcome their defences and defeated them. Set wasn't content with merely taking his vanquished enemies prisoner; he had the hosts executed, then extracted the Goa'uld eel-creature and sealed them in canopic jars.

* * *

In still another instance, a colony on a world called Ombos rebelled against Ra's rule. As an act of retribution, Ra had the colony's entire population slaughtered by a force led by Hathor, one of the more faithful Goa'uld. Having tasted blood, Hathor was eager for more killing, but Ra put a stop to her killing spree, sealing her in a sarcophagus far from his settlement on the Nile. This particular incident would become cemented in Egyptian mythology, with a few embellishments.

* * *

As his enforcers, Ra gave the Goa'uld ships and weapons, but he had withheld his most precious technology: the technology powering his sarcophagus that gave him eternal life. It was the reason why he had selected humans in the first place; his existing technology could easily regenerate human bodies. He had had no desire to share this technology with his underlings; immortality would be reserved for Ra alone.

He would eventually learn that one of them, Telchak, had found an alien device with regenerative abilities. The technology in this device eventually became the basis for an imitation sarcophagus, an emulation of Ra's original. Seeking to replicate Ra's life-sustaining technology for themselves, the other Goa'uld welcomed this new discovery in a rare, and brief, display of unity. Then it was back to business as usual, unity giving way to backstabbing and jockeying for position and resources.

Ra himself viewed this new development with concern, as his former lieutenants, whom he still viewed as lesser than himself, seemingly had the immortality previously exclusive to himself within their grasp, therefore putting them on equal footing with himself. Also, the unity they showed upon Telchak's revelation that he had emulated Ra's sarcophagus technology was concerning, since alliances between the Goa'uld were usually headed by Ra himself; this was not so this time. Finally, immortality might embolden them to rebel where mortality had held them back; indeed, his spies among their ranks warned him of whisperings to that effect. However, upon seeing the co-operation and unity they showed was short-lived, especially upon learning that Anubis decided to wage war with Telchak for possession of the alien device, he was reassured somewhat of his supremacy.

As for the original alien device, it was lost after being used in experiments on humans in Telchak's domain on Earth.

* * *

Busying themselves creating their own empires out of colonies, the system lords would ultimately leave Earth for the stars. Only Ra himself had a regular presence on Earth, but he too was frequently drawn away to other worlds, leaving control in the hands of his guards. The reports of his guards, however, grew progressively less encouraging, with the human population becoming increasingly difficult to manage and informers voicing rumours of dissent and organised rebellion.

Word of Hathor's carnage on Ombos reached other colonies and came back to Earth. While the incident served to put the fear of Ra into them, the humans on Earth, however, ultimately proved more troublesome: Ra learned that soon after he had left Earth for what would be the last time, plotters stormed his pyramid and took the Stargate down. He sent his champion, Anubis, to find out what had transpired, but never heard from him or the Horus guard who had accompanied him again.

Ra briefly considered returning to eliminate the rebels, but decided against it; a return wasn't worth the trouble. By now, he was only using Earth as a 'farm' to take humans for breeding stock, which he no longer needed now that he and the other Goa'uld had established colonies of humans in the hundreds. Not only that, but his forces were spread thin with the dual duties of exploring and keeping the other colonies – and the Goa'uld – in check.

Although he had forbidden travel to Earth, several of the Goa'uld continued to travel there by ship, exerting influence on small populations of humans and even taking some of them to other planets. Some returned with new hosts and names, drawn from the cultures they visited.


End file.
